Abstract
Purpose :
To evaluate the efficacy and the influence of erythropoietin sub-cutaneous injection, used as treatment in anemia of chronic renal disease, in patients with associated type 2 Diabetes with non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy.
Methods :
A retrospective study of forty eyes in twenty non-consecutive patients affected by chronic renal failure anemia and diabetes, with Non-Proliferative Diabetic Retinopathy (NPDR), analyzed, for a one-year period, the progression of their diabetic retinopathy following the treatment with subcutaneous erythropoietin aiming at the anemia alone. The patients were followed for a year, examined, every three months, by the same retina specialist.
Results :
From all of the followed patients, 50% of the eyes evolved to non-proliferative center involved diabetic retinopathy and 50% evolved to Proliferative Diabetic Retinopathy (PDR), with all of them showing worsening of the initial best corrected visual acuity.
The group that evolved into center involved NPDR was treated with either aflibercept or ranibizumab injections. The group that evolved to PDR was treated with Anti-VEGF injections plus Pan Retinal Photocoagulation and, if needed, vitreous surgery
Conclusions :
Both groups presented worsening in vision and progression in the classification of the diabetic retinopathy along the year
The use of sub-cutaneous erythropoietin as a treatment for chronic renal failure anemia in Non-Proliferative Diabetic Retinopathy does not seem to influence, or prevent, the progression of the DR stages.
More studies around worsening of the NPDR after erythropoietin injections will be necessary to confirm our findings.
This abstract was presented at the 2023 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in New Orleans, LA, April 23-27, 2023.